computer-assisted composition and computer-generated sounds (additive synthesis) produced with DISSCO

Big Gizmo is a computer-assisted (algorithmic) composition using additive synthesis sounds. It was produced with DISSCO, original software for composition and sound design developed at the Computer Music Project of the UIUC Experimental Music Studios and Argonne National Laboratory. It is also a manifold composition: the total duration of the piece, the durations of sections and events, their start times as well as various characteristics of the sounds (spectrum, frequency, loudness, modulations, spatialization, reverberation, etc.) depend on random selections within set limits. Multiple runs produce multiple variants of the same structure, a family or a class of compositions whose members are equally valid.